An IoT may be defined as “a pervasive and ubiquitous network which enables monitoring and control of the physical environment by collecting, processing, and analyzing the data generated by sensors or smart objects.” Securing the Internet of Things: A Proposed Framework, Jazib Frahim, Carlos Pignataro, Jeff Apcar and Monique Morrow, Published by Cisco Security Research & Operations and available at: https://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/about/security-center/secure-iot-proposed-framework.html.
Examples of such sensors or smart objects include refrigerators, lights, smartphones, smartwatches, computers, laptops, tablets, sinks, hot water heaters, coffee machines, ovens, vehicles, thermostats and any other suitable devices.
Interconnected sensors may gather data. The diverse nature and large volume of data collected by interconnected sensors on an IoT potentially provides unique functionality and operational opportunities. Computing systems may process the gathered data and derive new knowledge or insights from the data. The new knowledge may be leveraged to provide feedback to the sensors or proactive instructions to other sensors, thereby improving the efficiency and intelligence of the sensors. Exemplary effects of improved efficiency and intelligence may be recognized by optimizing processes, improving understanding and targeting of customer needs and increasing automation and decreasing latency in provision of products and services.
In an IoT, each of the interconnected sensors may not have uniform computing capabilities or known network positions, communication protocols or security services. Furthermore, IoT connected devices may not be centrally controlled. Accordingly, the unstructured and diverse nature of an IoT poses a technical challenge to detecting when an IoT connected sensor has been compromised.
Furthermore, for IoT connected devices to be utilized for transmission of sensitive information or other applications that require a threshold level of security or performance. Sensitive information may include personally identifiable information or financial information. The unstructured and diverse nature of an IoT also poses a technical challenge to securing devices or communication pathways for transmission of sensitive information.
To solve these technical challenges, it would be desireable to provide solutions that allow non-uniform and interconnected IoT sensors to function seamlessly and securely and leverage the distributed efficiency and intelligence capabilities provided by an IoT. Therefore, it is desirable to provide a communications system for securing a data transmission path prior to data transmission is desirable.